


My Fairy King

by Maxil_Gal



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Fairy Tale Elements, Fic Rewrite, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Torture, based off of the characters in the Its A Hard Life vid, magic cats, rock and roll magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-10-13 16:30:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxil_Gal/pseuds/Maxil_Gal
Summary: Charlie Hutton has been told many stories by her father, Jim. Most of them involve being careful of the magic folk that inhabit the forest near their home. After Charlie's father disappears one rainy night, she is transported to the Otherworld, home of the fae. There she encounters familiar characters from the stories her father told her as a child.And that her father might actually still be alive.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> this is a rewrite of another fic I wrote, because i reworked the story and prefer this version
> 
> Some notes!  
> THIS IS PURE FICTION. THATS IT. No ifs, ands, or buts.  
> All characters are that. Characters. They are in no way meant to be their real world counterparts.  
> Based loosely on the same type of magic from the Labyrinth movie. Not the same universe but a similar feel

Jim awoke to the sound of Charlie crying. This wasn’t unusual. The poor thing was a fussy sleeper, never able to go through a night without something being wrong. He found her in her crib, but crying for a very good reason. The window to the baby’s nursery had been flung open by...something.

Jim rushed to the window and shut it quickly, re-fastening the lock as he peered outside...Good. Nothing had gotten in as far as he could tell. 

The hairy man took the small child into his arms, cooing slightly to her.

“It’s alright darling. He’s not gonna get you...Papa’s here.” He bounced her gently in his arms, shushing the crying child back to sleep and humming a tune to her. He slowly lowered himself into the rocking chair in the corner, now determined to wait with her through the night.

It had only seemed to be a few seconds when he heard familiar footsteps coming down the hallway. Jim had to restrain himself from tightening his grip on Charlie, standing slowly to face the dark figure in the doorway. “You aren’t welcome here.”

The figure wavered only a second and continued its approach, hidden eyes staring at the small baby Jim held in his arms. The only thing that halted its progress was when Jim revealed the ring on its chain in warning to the intruder.

“This house is protected. Leave.” Charlie was beginning to whimper, and the creature gave what seemed to be a wicked chuckle before vanishing into the night. Jim slumped back into the chair, heart racing like a unbroken stallion. “Don’t worry, Charlie...They’re gone…” He tucked the compass back into his pocket and resumed rocking her to sleep.

* * *

 

Jim stared out the kitchen window. It was a dark night. Full of magic. He could feel it under his skin. 

“Papa?” His thoughts were disrupted by Charlie, his five year old daughter. “Papa? I can’t sleep.”

“And why is that, chestnut?” He dipped to his knees and gave her cheek a little squeeze, producing the warmest smile he could muster

“Scary noises,” she mumbled, putting her arms up to be picked up by her father. He did so with a grunt.

“Don’t worry, Charlie Horse. It’s just the wind,” he whispered, giving her a kiss on the cheek before carrying her back to bed. 

“Why is it so angry?”

“The wind is a wild thing, dear. It can’t be controlled. It can be soft and warm, or cold and biting.” He tucked her in gently, scouring her room for a stuffie.

“Padraig, Papa.” He nodded and put the teddy next to her, which she grasped like a baby monkey to its mother. “Papa...can you tell me a story?”

“It’s past your bedtime, Charlie.” She snuggled deeper under the quilt.

“I know but…I want to hear about faeries.” His expression softened. “Please, Papa? You tell the stories so good.”

“Ok, ok. Well, the wind actually can be controlled, by the Tempest Lord.” Her eyes widened in recognition.

“What’s he like, Papa?”

“He’s strong, courageous. His drums beat louder than any normal man’s. He is fearsome in battle against his enemies, and can turn into a golden lion at will.”

“Is he handsome?” Her face was lit by excitement. The Tempest Lord was a personal favorite character to her.

“Oh yes.”

“As handsome as the Fairy King?” Jim went quiet, staring out the window. “Papa?”

“Hmm? Oh yes. The Fairy King is very handsome...but very powerful. You have to be careful around him, or he’ll trick you.” Charlie nodded and rested her head on her pillow.

“Is he bad?”

“No...no he’s just been misled. But I don’t think he’ll ever know he is. Goodnight, baby.”

“Night-night daddy.” Jim couldn’t suppress a smile as he switched on her nightlight and closed the door.

* * *

 

The fae slipped in without banging the shutters. He had to see her ever since she had befriended one of his guard. Was she really his daughter? He formed next to her bed, watching the little child sleep in peace.

“That’s her,” the calico murmured. The fae nodded, stretching out a careful hand to push a few strands of hair behind her ear.

“She looks just like him…”

“You feel it though?”

“Of course. You’d have to be an idiot to not feel it.” She gave a deep sigh and snuggled into the teddy bear she clutched in her arms. “Delilah...lock the door.”

“You said we were just going to see her,” the cat whispered angrily. The fae brushed her off and slowly took the sleeping child into his arms, whispering a sleeping spell to her. The child, instead of falling deeper into her slumber, began to whine and whimper.

“Charlie? Charlie is everything all right?” Jim tried the door, dismayed at finding it locked. “Charlie? Charlie!” He banged his fist against the wood as he heard the wind began to scream furiously and the air filled with the prickle of magic. “Charlie!” Jim managed to break into the room, only to find his worst nightmare. Her bed was empty, her stuffie lying to the side, and the window wide open into the cold storm. Jim peered into the darkness, screaming wildly. “CHARLIE!”

* * *

 

Charlie woke up in a big comfy bed, rather than her slightly ratty, uncomfortable one. A cluster of cats were curled around her, purring like machines. She sat up, eyes sparkling at the sight.

“Kitties,” she whispered, slowly putting her hand to pet one. The litter sprung up to attention and began rubbing her, their soft fur tickling her into laughter. “Nice kitties…” Their purring grew even stronger.

“They really like you.” Charlie jumped slightly at the sudden emergence of a man. He looked nice though, covered in flowery prints with long, slightly curly black hair and dark, warm eyes. “Hello...my name is Freddie. What’s your name?” Charlie looked down in shyness.

“Charlotte...but everyone calls me Charlie…”

“That’s a lovely name, Charlie. You like kitties?”

“Mhmm.” She smiled as an orange tabby pushed his head into her hand. “Are they all yours?” Freddie smiled a wide grin, shining like the summer sun.

“Yes.” 

“I didn’t know you could own this many kitties,” she whispered as they congregated on her lap. Freddie laughed.

“Are you hungry?” Charlie nodded and Freddie helped her out of the big adult bed and led her out of the room. “Do you like my home?” She was staring in awe at the building.

“It’s like a fairy tale. Are you a prince?” Charlie looked up at him in pure amazement. Freddie giggled slightly and covered his mouth.

“Why? Do I look like a prince? Here we go.” They entered a large room with a checkered floor leading towards a velvet throne. 

“You  _ are _ a prince,” she murmured, disbelieving. Freddie only smiled and sat her on the carpeted steps leading to the seat.

“Do you like strawberries?” Charlie nodded wildly.

“They’re my favorite.”

“Well, let’s get you some.”

* * *

 

Charlie had fallen asleep in Freddie’s lap after a full morning of playing and showing her all the amazing things he owned. He had to admit that the child had that same kind of stubborn glint in her eye that her father had. Her eyes were a beautiful brown like his, hair a few shades lighter. But the resemblance was hard to miss. He was pulled from his inspection of the girl when he was rudely interrupted.

“My lord, the other Princes have come.” Freddie cursed to himself.

“Pol, show them in.” Freddie smoothed the hair of the whimpering child until she laid still again. She must have been having a bad dream. “Charlie? You want to cuddle with the kitties?” She slowly blinked awake at the sound of her name and nodded. Freddie put her off to the side and she was immediately cuddled by a gang of cats, giggling as they meowed softly at her. Freddie rose to meet the other Princes, grimacing as he hurried to the door.

They entered before he could get to there, leaving him facing the three of them with what he was trying to hide on the other side of the room playing with a bundle of cats.

“Freddie, I…” John started to speak but was immediately distracted by Charlie on the far end of the room. “Freddie, who is that.” She was watching them, petting a grumpy looking fluffy white cat. “Freddie…” The fae couldn’t answer but looked off to the side with his arms crossed.

“She’s none of your concern,” Pol said coolly. Roger immediately squinted at the fae.

“I think she is. Deaks.” He nodded off at her and John nodded and slowly approached her.

“Hello…”

“Hello…” She was a young mortal, still shy around strangers. The cats scattered slightly but stayed within arm’s reach as John sat next to her.

“My name’s John. What’s your name?”

“Charlie…”

“That’s a nice name.” She finally looked at him, and John froze in place. It was her eyes that were a dead giveaway. He waved the others towards him. She whined slightly as they approached, but John gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s ok. These are my friends, Brian and Roger. This is Charlie.”

“Hello Charlie,” Brian said with a smile. Roger also squatted down to her eye level. “We’re friends of Freddie. Has he been nice to you?”

“Mhmm...do you know where my Papa is?” The two men glanced at each other.

“Err, Charlie...do you know your Papa’s name?” Roger tried to give a reassuring smile but he was clearly worried.

“Jim…”

“Do you know your last name, Charlie?”

“Mhmm. I’m Charlie Hutton, I’m 5 years old, and I live on 34 Rowan Lane, County Carlow...That’s what my Papa told me to say if I was lost.” 

“Wow. You know a lot, Charlie. We’re gonna get you to your Papa very soon, ok?” She nodded and turned to find a cat to play with. “You guys deal with Freddie. I’ll sit with her,” Deaky murmured. 

Charlie yawned and rested her head on Deaky’s arm as he hummed a soft tune to her. She fell asleep easily in his arms as he carried her back to the mortal realm, leaving behind the mess that was ensuing behind them.

* * *

 

“Thank you, Deaky. Thank you,” Jim cried as he took his daughter into his arms.

“You won’t have to worry about Freddie coming here anymore. It’s under my protection...but be careful of the forest, Jim.” The man nodded, hugging Charlie to his chest.

“Of course...thank you John. And Freddie?”

“He’s too far gone...if he’s willing to do this then…” The fae went silent and looked at Charlie thoughtfully. “I think he’s too far gone, Jim.” He nodded, his heart swelling. Despite everything, he still loved Freddie. He didn’t want him to go down this road but…

“Thank you. Say thank you to the others for me, if you see them again?”

“Of course.” With one last sad smile, John patted the young girl’s head before disappearing into the misty morning. No sooner had Jim closed the door then Charlie began squirming.

“Papa?”

“Good morning, darling.”

“Papa I had the most amazing dream! I spent a day with a prince and he had a bunch of kitties and lived in a palace!” Jim forced a smile as he carried her to her room. She gave a loud yawn despite her eager voice. “Can we get a kitty, Papa?”

“Maybe, Charlie, maybe.”

* * *

 

Charlie was sitting in the grass while Jim kneeled beside his garden. She was 7, and liked watching him work. He would push his hands into the soil and tend to his flowers as tenderly as newborn kittens. 

“Papa, how come you don’t like the forest?”

“Why d’you say that, Charlie?”

“Well...I thought you’d like it cause you like plants so much. But we never go in.” Jim leaned back onto his heels and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“You have to be careful of forests, Charlie. They got magic in them. Anywhere there’s an abundance of life there’s magic.”

“Is magic bad?”

“No. Nothing is wholly good or bad. It just is. But magic isn’t something for people. It belongs to the fair folk.”

“And they could hurt us?”

“If they wanted. They’re a tricksy people, Charlie. They don’t understand how their actions affect other people. Hand me that spade, honey. Thank you.” He dug the roots of a particularly nasty weed out of the bed with a few quick jabs. “Don’t you go into the forest, ok? You could get lost and hurt. Understand?”

“Yes, Papa.”

“Good...well that’s enough for today, Charlie Horse. Go on and play you little scamp.” She grinned broadly and shot off like a bullet towards the rolling fields. “And be back by dinner time!” She crawled over a broken down stonewall and hummed to herself, grabbing a stick as an impromptu weapon. She was transported to a whole nother world in her mind...followed by a good friend of course. It was always cloudy when he came to play. That’s just how Roger was.

“G’day, fair maiden Charlie!” 

“G’day, fair sir Roger.” She did an exaggerated bow to the ephemeral man. “Papa says I can’t go to the forest.”

“Good. It’s dangerous there.”

“That’s what he says. Other kids play there and they’re fine though.” She hopped down from the wall and kicked a loose stone a couple of feet away.

“You’re not other kids though.”

“How come?”

“You believe in faeries. They don’t.” Charlie rolled her eyes and picked the stone up and ran it over her palms. It was beautifully smooth from exposure.

“But faeries are real! Just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there,” she huffed. 

“People will and won’t believe. There’s nothing you can do about it.” 

“Do adults get taken by faeries, Roger?” The blonde man sat beside her and played with a dandelion. Charlie plucked it and stuck it in his hair. 

“Sometimes. Why?” Charlie was silent as she began weaving flowers together in a crown.

“Could they take Papa?” Roger watched her hands braid the stems together.

“No. Your Papa is going to be with you a long time.”

“But what if they trick him?” She tried not to sound worried, but Roger could hear it in the strain of her voice.

“Your Papa is very clever. Trust me, Charlie. He won’t let anyone take him from you.”

“Ok...is that why he doesn’t want me going to the forest? Cause I could be taken by faeries?”

“Mhmm. That’s a pretty crown. Is it for me?” She smiled and put it on his golden head. It took on more color the second it touched his hair. “Thank you.”

“My Papa would save me though...like the knights in the stories…”

“You have a lot of people looking out for you, Charlie.” He glanced up at the darkening skies. “I think you should head home before it starts to rain.”

“Silly. It never rains on me when I play with you.” Roger smiled broadly and helped her stand.

“Don’t tempt tempests. Now go on, before you get soaked.” He watched as she ran back towards the cottage, grinning ear to ear. Then, twirling his sticks in his hand, he let out the first crack of thunder of the storm.

* * *

 

Roger whistled idly. The sky was darkening overhead. It had been quite a while since he had seen Charlie, but that was about to change. She was riding down the road on her bike and stopped to walk it up the dirt road leading to the cottage.

“Hello, fair maiden Charlie!” She didn’t acknowledge him, instead poking at a wiggly spoke on her slightly rusted bicycle. “C’mon Charlie. Aren’t I more interesting then a bike? Charlie? Hey, Charlie!” He shuddered as she suddenly walked through his form. “Ch...Charlie?”

“She can’t see you anymore, Rog.” He turned to Brian and Deaky, who were sitting on the wall.

“What do you mean she can’t see me?! She can always see me!” His voice rose in desperation as he watched her leave the bike in the worn down barn and run inside as rain started pelting down. 

“She’s grown up, Roger.”

“We tried to tell you,” Deaky murmured. Roger shook his head. 

“No. Charlie...Charlie can’t stop believing in faeries! She can’t!”

“She’s grown up. We’re just imaginary friends she had as a kid.”

“Damn you, Brian! Stop being so scientific about this. That’s Charlie! Our Charlie!”

“She was never our Charlie, Rog.” The blonde fae was crying now, the storm beating against the walls of buildings and the doors of houses, begging to be let in.

* * *

 

“Strong storm. Glad I got home when I did. I swear it wasn’t even threatening when I rode up.” Charlie was 13 and helping her father wash the dishes. 

“Mhmm.”

“So...Jenny invited me to her house on Saturday.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. She and a bunch of friends are going swimming.”

“I didn’t know the Gleeson’s had a pool.”

“That’s...er, that’s the thing, Pops. They’re going swimming at Jem’s Pond.” He stopped a second before sighing. 

“Charlie.”

“Come on Dad! I’m not a kid anymore, and I’m not going by myself.”

“Charlie, I told you time and time again, you are not allowed to go into the forest.” Jim could tell she was getting angry.

“That was when I was kid! But I’m 13 now. God, I’m not a baby anymore!” 

“No. That’s my final answer.” Charlie threw the towel down.

“Why are you so...UGH.” She stomped to her room and slammed the door. Jim sighed heavily.

“Lord help me…” He moved to the door and knocked gently. “Charlie? C’mon Charlie, open the door.”

“No!”

“Charlie,” he sighed, leaning his head against the door. “Charlie I know you’re upset. Can we please talk about this?” There was no answer. “Charlie, I know it seems like I’m overbearing or babying you but...but I just want you to be safe, ok? I lost you once and I don’t want to lose you again…” He held his breath as he heard the door unlock and Charlie poked out slowly.

“You lost me?”

“Mhmm. When you were very little. I thought someone had taken you. I couldn’t find you anywhere. I was beside myself. Luckily a kind man brought you back.” Charlie sat next to Jim , resting her head on his broad shoulder. She was always amazed at how strong he was but also at how gentle he was. It was his superpower. “Charlie, I was so terrified.”

“You? You were scared?” It seemed impossible that this big, strong, loving man could ever be afraid. 

“Of course. I’m still a little scared. Hey.” He nudged her gently. “I heard that Mrs. Connolly's cat gave birth to kittens. She promised me the pick of the litter...maybe we could go look at them?” Charlie gasped and wrapped her arms around him.

“Really? We’re really getting a kitten?”

“Maybe. Maybe.”

* * *

 

Charlie was 15, crying in her room. The door opened, revealing her cousin Aaron. She looked up, hope sparking for a moment before he shook his head sadly. 

“I’m sorry, Charlie.”

“Have they looked everywhere?!”

“Charlie…”

“Well have they?! Aaron they have to keep-” She stopped when he held out her father’s cap to her. She took it gingerly.

“We found it in the river…” Charlie was mute as Aaron wrapped his arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Charlie.” She shakily returned the hug. 

“Oh god, Papa…” she whispered.


	2. Come to Tir Na Nog

Charlie was 18 and it was fall, almost Hallow’s Eve. Her favorite time of year. She was finished with school and spent her weekends at her old home, keeping it in working order for when she could move back in. Her father’s garden was more than a little overrun, though.

Charlie’s favorite part of the week was riding back to the little cottage on Rowan Lane. She could pretend she was a kid again, coming back from school to her loving father and his garden. She put the bike in the decrepit barn and unlocked the house. All the furniture was still there, their old tv, most of the family pictures. 

“Hey, Pops. I’m home.” She quickly got to work cleaning the house from head to toe, wiping the accumulated dust from the counters and shelves. Then she went and made sure nothing was missing from her father’s bedroom. Everything was still locked tight. Her room was very empty, only her old bed and some shelves where her things used to reside before she moved into Aaron’s village home. 

“Well...looks like everything’s ok. Thanks for holding down the fort, Bowie.” The gray tabby had finally appeared. “Just a few more weeks and I can move back in, bud.” Charlie patted his head and poured him some dry food and new clean water. “That’s exciting huh?” She looked up at the picture of her father on the mantelpiece. He was holding a young Charlie, smiling through his big bushy moustache in front of their beloved garden. She let out a deep sigh. “Miss you, Papa.” Her attention turned to Bowie yowling at the door to Jim’s bedroom. “What is it? Got a specific sun spot?” She opened and he dashed in, jumping onto her father’s bed, purring at the soft quilt warmed by the sun streaming in through the window. “Yeah. I guess cat’s really do know the meaning of life. Sun spots.” Charlie gazed around the room. Everything was as it always was. Still, silent, lifeless. She could imagine her father going over the bills at that desk, brow furrowed in concentration. But he wasn’t there. He’d never be there again. Charlie began rooting around his drawers. She usually didn’t, but she had to give some movement and action to the room again. The desk was filled with 3 year old receipts and her father’s checkbook. Her grandfather’s smoking pipe laid next to his old fountain pen in another drawer. She moved on to her father’s dresser. His clothes lay where he had left them, nicely folded in the drawers. The only thing she didn’t immediately recognize was the cigar box laying on top. She took it and gingerly opened it.

It was her father’s jewels...well, his most important things. There were his glasses for when he poured over documents. His pocket watch he had gotten from his uncle when he turned 18. His regular watch and silk pocket square. And then there was something Charlie had almost forgotten about entirely. 

His ring. It was looped onto a chain and she remembered vividly him wearing it all the time. Charlie picked it up softly, inspecting it. It seemed like an ordinary gold wedding band. No inscriptions or marks. It wasn’t her mother’s thats for sure. 

Jim had only once told Charlie about her mother, when she turned 10 and got a letter with 50 quid inside. Jim was gay, but at the time he couldn’t exactly tell people that. He married her mother, a woman named Margaret who he had met at his work at a hair salon. It was a disastrous marriage, full of fighting, accusations of Jim cheating on her...it wasn’t good for either of them. After Charlie was born, they divorced and she gave full custody to her father. Last she had heard of Margaret was she was in Budapest, and that was 5 years ago. She hadn’t even come to her father’s funeral. 

Charlie turned it over and over in her hands, trying to remember if her dad ever had a real partner. One. He mentioned a man named Freddie sometimes, always with a sad or angry look in his eyes. She sighed and put the chain on, hiding the ring under her shirt. For the first time in 3 years, she felt like she was with her father again.

* * *

 

Charlie rode silently towards the bridge that led to town. Like an idiot, she had forgotten to get batteries on the way up, and with a storm coming in the next few days, she needed to make sure her camping lamps and torches were well supplied.

Too her dismay, the bridge was out. She waved a worker over and asked the reason.

“Old bridge fell down. It’ll be up again by Tuesday.”

“How am I gonna get to town?”

“We’ve been told to direct people down the forest road.” Charlie groaned and thanked the man before peddling back down the lane to the turn into the forest. At first, she felt a prickle go down her spine, but she waved it away. Her dad told her those stories to keep her from getting lost. Fair folk didn’t live in the forest. 

Her first sign of trouble was hitting that rock. She swore she had avoided it, but then again she was flying through the air into the brush. Charlie let out a string of expletives as she brushed herself off, struggling to untangle herself from the bushes. 

She stopped at the sight of a calico cat.

“Oh...hi.” The calico mewled at her and approached, rubbing against her leg. “Friendly little thing, aren’t ya?” The cat meowed again and leapt onto a boulder. “What?” It stared at her and meowed even louder, pointing farther into the forest. She seemed slightly distressed and kept meowing at Charlie. “Shit, ok I’m coming.” She probably has kittens, Charlie thought to herself. She dragged her bike into the woods and hid it behind a bush, marking the tree it rested on with her pocket knife before chasing after the cat. It took her only a few minutes until she was lost. The calico stayed near though, occasionally changing course and waiting for Charlie to catch up.

“I hope you know the way back then, mama,” Charlie muttered as she stepped over a moss covered log. Eventually, the cat stopped in front of an abandoned shed, a little ground cellar leading into the darkness of a hill. The cat meowed, creating a little echo in the open space. Tiny mewls met her. “Oh shit...ok don’t worry mama.” Charlie petted the cat and slowly descended.

After the first few steps, she fell into a large well. And that was only the beginning of her problems. 


	3. In the Court of the Fairy King

Charlie didn’t really remember what happened after she fell. She didn’t remember landing, or pain. She was falling and then she woke up leaned against something large, furry, and warm. She squirmed gently, realizing someone had tied her hands together and put a blindfold on her. A weight was set on her torso, keeping her from moving much. 

“She’s waking up.” The thing she was leaned up against rumbled as it spoke. Charlie groaned and struggled more against her restraints.

“What the fuck,” she whispered, still slightly droopy and nauseous from whatever had happened to her. 

Light hit her like a brick as the blindfold was ripped off her head, revealing to her a large, ornately decorated space. She was facing red carpeted steps leading to a lavish looking throne But what really caught her attention was an outrageously ostentatious man sitting on it. He had white pants and sneakers, but was sporting a long, almost costume like cape you find on a stereotypical king. That and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. In one hand was a grand looking crown, the other was holding...her father’s ring.

“Hey!” She tried to move forward but was pinned by what she had been resting against. A large cat, like a tiger, but with a cat’s coloring and much bigger than what Charlie understood a tiger to be. “Oh shit...holy shit…”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you,” the tiger said, before slowly shrinking back to a house cat. “My name’s Delilah.”

“You’re...you’re the mama cat! And you can talk!?” A ripple of laughter went through the crowd surrounding Charlie. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment, but the laughter was quickly hushed by a hand from the man on the throne. 

“I’m sorry for tricking you. It was the only way to get you home.” She pressed her nose to Charlie’s bindings and they melted away.

“Thanks,” she murmured, gently rubbing her wrists. “Home? This...this isn’t my home. My home is 34 Rowan Lane, County Carlow…” The man stood and slowly moved toward a grand piano that was seated a few feet away from Charlie. “Who are you...give me my father’s ring back.” The man had sat and was plinking away at the keys. She stared as his hands moved and began playing a tune she knew far too well. “How...how do you know that song?” Her hands were shaking. She only knew one person who had ever uttered that melody in her life. The man smiled as he played.

“Who do you think wrote it, darling?” He paused and turned to her. “You really don’t remember me? But we had such a wonderful day together.” Charlie remained mute. He sighed and moved towards her. “I would have hoped you would have kept your faith in faeries. You had such a spirit in you as a child.”

“Faeries…” Charlie dared to look into his eyes and felt something tug at the back of her head. “Fairy King?”

“You knew me better as Freddie, darling.” She glanced over at Delilah and remembered faintly. A prince and his many cats...but that was just a dream...a story she made up...it wasn’t real. “And as for this,” he mused as he held the ring in his hand, “I’m surprised your father kept it…”

“You...You’re Freddie?  _ The _ Freddie? The Freddie my dad talked about was...is the Fairy King?”

“The one and only,” he said, grinning wide. He offered his hand and helped her up from the floor. 

“Please...please can I have his ring back?” She tried not to let her voice quiver, but Freddie could see right through it. “Please...it’s the last I have of him…” His dark eyes softened, filled with a budding grief.

“He’s gone?”

“He...he died 3 years ago…” Freddie blinked a few times before handing the chain back to Charlie, who quickly put it back on. He turned away, slowly making his way back to his throne. “I’m sorry…” He put his head in his hand, quiet for a few moments before turning his attention to Charlie. His face shifted from sorrow into anger.

“He swore to me he’d stay…he swore…” His hands balled themselves into fists. “You are his next of kin...his oath passes to you.” 

“What? No. I can’t stay I need to go home.”

“This is your home now,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your father owed me a debt, a promise to stay in my court forever...he broke his oath when he returned to the Mortal World. You will stay in his place.” Strong arms wrapped themselves around Charlie, despite her struggling. “Take her away…” 

“You can’t do this!” She kicked and thrashed furiously. “I need to go home! Let me go!” She swore and spat and resisted the guards who kept a steady grip on her. Freddie approached, anger almost radiating off of his body.

“Can’t I? You’re in my realm, child. You better start learning some manners.” She met his gaze, trying desperately not to cry from rage. The last thing she wanted was to start crying in front of him and his court. 

“The dungeon, sire?” He held her gaze intently before turning away.

“That won’t be necessary yet. Take our little guest to...let’s say the Rose suite. If she causes anymore trouble we can always make different rooming arrangements.” Charlie wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. Her fury was so unbridled she couldn’t do much but shake as Freddie glanced back as she was dragged from the throne room. 

* * *

Charlie threw herself on the bed, beating it until she could hardly lift her arms above her head. She lay there, unmoving, crying into the bedcover. Soon enough, she had used all her tears and was gasping for breath and fighting a pounding headache. Closing her eyes, she remembered what her father had taught her.

_ Deep breath in, until it fills all of your lungs, and then let it all out. Just like that. See? It’s not that bad after all.  _

“I wish I could believe you this time, Papa.” Charlie sat up and looked around her room. It was pastel and soft, calming. Pink, cream, and white where the majority of the colors, sometimes being accented by gold here or there. A vanity stood in one corner, next to a grand dresser. Her eyes instantly locked onto a set of glass doors leading outside. One further inspection, it opened to a balcony. It was too far to jump, she knew that for sure.

But what really enraptured her was the view. Before her she could see the expanse of the palace gardens. Hedges, fountains, pools as far as the eye could see. There were orchards and groves and the air. Dear god, she had never smelled anything so warm and sweet as the air that came from the gardens. Charlie rested her head on the balcony railing and watched as fireflies began to dance in the grass as the sun began to dip below the horizon. A soft presence sat next to her, and glancing down she noticed the tabby was back. She huffed and turned back to the landscape.

“I’m sorry for tricking you…” Delilah rubbed against her, purring, trying to get her attention. “When the king knew you were in the forest, he sent me to get you…” Charlie pursed her lips and finally lowered her hand to pet the cat.

“I guess he is kinda your boss.” They sat in silence until the stars began blinking into existence. They were different then the ones she was used to at home. “So...this is the Otherworld? Like...Tir Na Nog...And fae are real...holy shit Pops was right.” Charlie laid back on the smooth floor of the outcrop. 

“He told you stories about us?”

“Yeah...I used to love it when he told me stories about faeries…Then I grew up, and I couldn’t believe in fair folk anymore…” She slowly pulled out the ring and fiddled with it in her hand. “It’s so weird, knowing faeries are real...then again it’s not so weird...I knew when I was a kid I guess I just...forgot.” She began sifting through her earliest memories, trying to see if she could remember. It was hard to discern what was real and what wasn’t. “It doesn’t matter much now, as I’m stuck here.” Charlie kicked off her sneakers and socks and placed them beside the regal bed. “How can you serve such a...it starts with a c I can tell you that.”

“He’s not a bad fae. He’s hurting.”

“Yeah, well I do remember one lesson my father taught me. Fae don’t understand how their actions affect other people. Self-absorbed...pricks,” she hissed as she cleaned her glasses on her t-shirt. Delilah’s ears laid flat against her head.

“Am I a prick?”

“What? No! I just...ugh...I’m sorry. I’m angry and hurting too.” Charlie plopped down onto the fine chaise lounge that sat in the corner of the room, Delilah quickly jumping up next to her. The pair stared up at the painted fresco on the ceiling. It was of an evening sky, with clouds colored pink and orange and soft, warm tones as the sky melted into a purple haze at the edges. “I just want to go home, Delilah...I already lost my dad, and I don’t want to lose that too.” The cat purred and curled up beside Charlie.

“Get some sleep. It’ll be better in the morning.”

* * *

Indeed it was better in the morning, because Charlie woke up to being covered in cats.

“What the- Delilah who are these?” The tabby had been kneading her head idly when she woke up, hair a curly mess and glasses askew on her face.

“The other fairy guard. We met you when you were a child.” She jumped down and the cats slowly rose, some grooming themselves, some purring in excitement to see Charlie.

“Well, most of us,” the ginger tabby said, ears perked intently. At either side was a kitten, one black and the other mottled and white. “Lily and Miko are still kittens…” Charlie gave them both little pets with her fingers.

“You’re so tiny.”

“We’re gonna get big, though!” The black one, Miko squeaked. The two then proceeded to entertain themselves with a playfight.

“Romeo, Dorothy, Goliath, Delilah, and Tiffany and I remember you though.”

“I remember her all right,” Tiffany muttered.

“Don’t mind her,” Dorothy sniffed, “She doesn’t like children.”

“Tiffany doesn’t like anyone,” Goliath laughed. The cat in question glared at them as they scattered and made room for Charlie to get up. 

“I’m sorry if I don’t remember all your names...I am awful with names,” she murmured, giving Tiffany and affectionate scratch behind the ear. The group of cats suddenly looked towards the door. 

“Sorry, Charlie...the King wants us,” Oscar gave her a goodbye rub before they all disappeared into thin air. She sighed and moved back to the balcony, watching the general going-ons of the palace grounds.

* * *

“What am I going to do? She’s just as stubborn as her father. I see it in her eyes.” Freddie paced angrily in his bedchambers. The cats were all seated around him, watching him intensely.

“Sire, she’s just a kid,” Dorothy said, trying to meet his eyeline. “She lost her father and her freedom, perhaps you should be a little more kinder.”

“Ugh. Perhaps you’re right...it’s just so frustrating! Her father was the same way...independent and stubborn…” He tapped his foot anxiously. “Alright, what do I do?”

“You could invite her to dinner. She hasn’t eaten anything yet…”

“Okay...yes, dinner. I can do dinner…”

“And please, my King, she’s still angry. Don’t push her or it’ll end badly for the both of you.” He nodded and looked at himself in the mirror.

“I can do this.”

* * *

“OPEN THIS DOOR.” He wasn’t doing it. Charlie had refused to face him. “I swear to the gods, Hutton! I will break this fucking door!”

“Do it! It’s your door!” The fae grumbled and paced even quicker. The cats were beginning to get dizzy watching him go back and forth. “I don’t want to eat with you!”

“You will have dinner with me, or you won’t eat at all!”

“Fine! I’d rather starve then give you the satisfaction.” Freddie wanted to pull his hair out. He turned the cats, exasperated. 

“See?!”

“Remember what we said? About pushing her?” His head hit the door in a defeated thunk.

“Charlie...Charlie will you please have dinner with me?”

“No.”

Freddie turned to the cats, giving them a look of ‘see-I-told-you-so’ frustration. Delilah sighed.

“I’ll talk to her.”

 

“One meal isn’t going to kill you, Charlie.” The girl was also pacing. Gods, they were really similar, the tabby thought. 

“He’s not going to buy me over with kindness, so he might as well put me in the dungeon.” She sat down with a thump, hot, angry tears starting to stream down her face. Delilah crept forward and gently but her head against the crying girl. 

“I know you’re angry, but please? For me? I don’t like seeing either of you so torn up.”

“Oh, please, Delilah. Don’t...oh god. Ok.” Charlie stood and put on her sneakers to leave.

* * *

 

The dinner was tense to say the least. They just sort of glanced at each other warily as they poked at their food. 

“Erhm...I’m sorry about your father…” Freddie finally broke their icy silence. Charlie only nodded slightly and continued prodding her food. “And...I’m sorry for how I acted earlier. It was absolutely brutish of me, darling...I shouldn’t treat you like that...I won’t treat you like that.” 

“Ok.”

“Do you like your room?”

“Mhmm. It’s nice…”

“Oh...good…” He gave a deep sigh and returned to his plate. Charlie was distracted by a cat prodding her foot. It was Delilah, staring intently at her. She gave a slight groan and tried to think of something to say.

“The view is really pretty...I’ve never seen such a nice garden.” Freddie’s head shot up when she addressed him. He couldn’t hide a delighted smile when she brought up the garden.

“Yes...it is quite grand...I could show you it, if you’d like.”

“That’d be...nice…” She swallowed hard at the word ‘nice’. Gods this was painful to watch. “I uhm...I’m also sorry for being so...nasty.”

“Oh,” Freddie said, surprised. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before she burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry...I laugh when I’m nervous.” Of course, Freddie couldn’t repress his own giggling either. 

“No no, it’s perfectly alright. Come, I want to show you the gardens. Your father adored them.” Charlie smiled the first real smile she had had in a while and followed.

* * *

 

The two of them soon became friends, despite their best efforts. Freddie gave her free range of the palace grounds, and she would spend hours upon hours in the gardens with the Fairy Guard. Freddie threw extravagant parties, to which Charlie was always too shy to attend.

“I can’t dance...and I’ve never been to anything more formal than a wedding.” And even then they weren’t exactly black-tie events, she thought. Freddie tsked and immediately began to teach her how to waltz. It soon became apparent that despite his lithe and graceful movements, he was a terrible dancer.

“What a pair we make then,” he joked as you both messed up your steps. “Oh, shit I did it again.”

“It’s fine, Freddie,” Charlie laughed as he stepped on her foot for the fifth time that practice. “I still don’t know if I’m gonna go tonight.”

“Oh come now, darling. It’ll be extraordinary fun. You won’t have to introduce yourself to anyone you don’t want to, and I’ll be right there the entire evening.” He looked at her with such pleading eyes she gave in and said yes. 

Of course, that required a dress. Freddie put on what seemed like a hundred different dresses. Every time Charlie looked at herself in the mirror he took in her reaction, and then would send her to put a different one on. Finally, to her relief and to his pride, she came out in a dress that suited them both very well. It was shimmering and a pale blue, and reminded Charlie of mist coming off the ocean. It was light and flowed gracefully when she walked, a train of cloud seemingly following her wherever she went.

Freddie attended in his ‘generalisimo’ outfit, covered in medals and tassels with white gloves. It made him look quite handsome. And of course, as Freddie was apt to do, Charlie would find, he invited anyone and everyone. The throne room was packed with bizarre looking attendees, each taking part in their own sort of festivities. 

Charlie had a seat right next to Freddie, who spent most of the night chatting and jesting his heart out, drinking fine champagne and playing wonderfully happy tunes on the piano to the applause of his audience.

And then a fae approached her. He was dressed in tales and lingered around Freddie like a hawk, watching intently. Eventually, when Freddie was busy with other attendees, he seemingly cornered Charlie.

“Good evening, Ms. Hutton.” With a short bow and a kiss on her hand, Charlie already didn’t like him. His presence made her spine shiver and the hairs on her arms stand up. 

“Good evening,” she said quietly, pretending to watch the goings-ons of the party. 

“Might I request a dance, if the young lady is not already taken?”

“I’m not...I don’t…” Charlie felt her face flush as she stumbled. “I’m not engaged, no.” He smiled in what was probably meant for comfort but only sickened Charlie’s stomach more. As he pulled her to the dance floor, the waltz began. “Can I know your name?” He laughed softly as he led her.

“Name’s are powerful in this place, Charlie Hutton...but you may call me Pol.” She nodded and watched her feet, terrified half of her partner and half of messing up. “Scared, little mortal? Why? You have nothing to fear in the Fairy King’s Court.” His voice in her ear made her insides turn over onto each other. 

“My father taught me to always be on guard around fair folk...sir.” His eyes went cold for a second, making Charlie tremble slightly.

“Be careful, then, little Hutton.” The song ended, and Pol disappeared into the crowd. Charlie gave a shiver and returned to Freddie’s side.

“I think I’m going to go to bed.” At first, the fae was about to argue but upon seeing how shaken she seemed, he nodded and let her go.

The rest of the night, Charlie couldn’t fall asleep, not even surrounded by her Fairy Guard.

* * *

 

“How did my father get here?” She was lounging with the other cats in the warm grass. It was always summer in the Fairy King’s domain.

“He was angry and went for a walk in the forest...and the Fairy King invited him to the Otherworld.” Dorothy was running her tongue along Miko’s tiny back, trying to get a nasty knot out of his fur. “He accepted and they fell in love.” Charlie turned onto her stomach to watch the cats roll around and play by the bubbling fountain they were sitting next to. 

“Why’d he leave then?”

“Oh, many reasons. He and Freddie fought...and then he found out that your father had a wife in the Mortal World. He visited her, and found out she was pregnant.”

“She didn’t want me,” Charlie thought aloud.

“She was going to put you up for adoption since Jim wasn’t with her anymore...so he left to raise you. Freddie told him he couldn’t, that he had promised to stay, that he could raise you in the Otherworld but…”

“It was too dangerous,” Delilah finally spoke, curling up next to Charlie. “He didn’t want you coming here.”

“I understand that now,” she sighed, pulling herself onto her knees. She fiddled with the ring around her neck. “He did love him. Freddie I mean. He was always sad or angry when he mentioned him but...he always said he loved him. Even in the stories.” She chuckled. “I loved his stories...I remember...there was three others…” The cats sat to attention, hair raising slightly. “I can’t remember the other two but...the Tempest Lord...I remember him.”

“They were friends,” Delilah murmured. “The Tempest Lord, the Emperor of Stars, and the Master of the Underground. They and the Fairy King are Princes of the Universe, great and powerful fae.”

“Well, where are they?” Delilah shook her head.

“They betrayed the King. They fought a terrible battle. It almost tore the Otherworld apart. Now they live outside the King’s Domain, in the Autumn Lands.” 

That night, Charlie looked over the forest next to the Palace, out towards a faint glimmer in the distance. Great rolling hills and woods going through the spectacular color of fall.

“The Autumn Lands,” she whispered, gazing out towards it. She could almost remember him, but it was thin strands that she couldn’t quite grasp. Memories that failed to return to her of a friend she knew so well once.


	4. Entering the Autumn Lands

Charlie started having nightmares. Terrible, traumatic nightmares. She would see her father in agonizing pain, suffocating in a swirling torrent. She would be chased by shadowy figures and demons, clawing and grasping at her. She would be twisted up in thorns, naked and screaming as the claw-like plants ripped her skin.

That night, she had the worse one of all. Her father was yelling at her to run but she couldn’t. All she could do was watch as he writhed in pain, his blood turning purple as it poisoned his body.

Charlie woke up screaming, trying to tear herself out of the arms of the person holding her.

“Charlie! Charlie, darling it’s ok. It’s just me. It’s Freddie. You were having a nightmare and Tiffany got me.” She blinked a few times, locking eyes with him. His expression was so soft and gentle that she melted back into his arms, sobbing. “It’s ok. You’re ok…” 

“He’s hurting...he’s hurting so much, Freddie.” He held her like her father used to, which only made her cry harder. “Something’s wrong.”

“What darling? Who’s hurting?”

“My father.”

* * *

“He’s alive. I know he is.”

“I said enough, Charlie.” 

“I have to find him! Why aren’t you listening to me?!” He was sulking on his throne as Charlie berated him. This had been going on all day, ever since Charlie realized her dreams were telling her something. Freddie’s head snapped to attention, glaring at her dangerously.

“I said enough.”

“I thought you loved him!” Charlie knew she crossed the line the second it left her mouth. His eyes went cold and hateful, like when he first trapped her here.

“Your father left me! He promised when he took that ring, and then he left.” Freddie’s voice was quivering. 

“My father never stopped loving you. And he left to take care of me. If you cared about anyone other than yourself you would realize that.” 

“I SAID ENOUGH.” His voice thundered through the room, the sheer force knocking her to the ground. Freddie’s face fell into concern and horror at what he’d done. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. She struggled to her feet and ran to the gardens. She couldn’t stop, she refused to stop. Everything in her body was telling her that her father was still alive. No selfish Fairy King was going to stop her. 

“Charlie!” Delilah was chasing her, zig-zagging through the flowers and bushes between them. “Charlie stop!” 

“No, Delilah. I won’t. I will never stop. My father is alive, I know he is. I’m going to find him, and then I’m going to take him home. My REAL home.” She stopped, trying to catch her heavy breath. The cat’s ears flattened against her head as she was called back by her master. “I won’t ever stop.” 

Charlie eyes looked up at Freddie, standing on the stone stairs that led to the palace from the gardens, Delilah now held in his arms. One step, then two, then Charlie was running again, struggling through the thick forest and trying desperately not to cry again. She had had enough of crying.

* * *

“And where do you think you’re going?” Oscar was sitting on a log that Charlie had fallen upon with a heavy thud, struggling to breathe. She had to remember to get checked for asthma when she got home.

“I’m not going back, Oscar.”

“We know that,” Tiffany said, annoyed at a twig stuck on her long fur. “You’re as stubborn as your father.”

“So...why are you here?” Charlie pulled herself up and began walking, trying to find a road or...something to point her in the right direction. Of course, the two cats plodded along, suddenly then joined by the rest of the crew, minus Miko, Lily, and Delilah. 

“We don’t want you to get hurt.”

“And what did the great Fairy King say to you all leaving your posts?” She kicked a large stick to the side, sending a pile of leaves scattering towards the small horde of cats she had following her.

“He doesn’t know what we do in our spare time,” Dorothy remarked, running ahead a few feet. “The least we can do is get you to the border of the Autumn Lands.”

“And after that? I still have no clue on how to find my father.”

“You have his ring, don’t you?” She nodded, and could almost see Tiffany roll her eyes. “Then you can find him. If you’re sure he’s in the Otherworld, then it’ll lead you to him.” The trees became less dense after a while, and soon they came to a wide, shallow creek. Off to one side was an ancient stone bridge, covered in moss and lichens. On the other shore, the trees and foliage were all manner of fall colors, shining brightly in the daylight.

“I assume that the creek is the border.” The cats all nodded and Charlie gave a loud huff before dropping to the ground. She undid her sneakers, stuffed her socks into the toes, and tied the two of them around her neck.

“Err, there’s a bridge right over there,” Tiffany said, as if lecturing a child. Charlie rolled her eyes.

“It looks like it’ll fall down in two seconds with me on it, Tiffany. Unlike you I do not weigh the same as a house cat, and besides, I don’t mind getting my feet wet. Thank you guys for walking with me...maybe when I find my father, I can come back…” They all watched, saddened by her departure. Even Tiffany seemed put out. But Charlie was on a mission, and no pouting cats could stop her. 

The water was clear and cold, ladened in smooth rocks rather than the muddy, silted creeks she was used to. The smaller pebbles embedded themselves sharply in the soles of her feet, forcing pained winces as she waded through the frigid stream. It was shallow, at its deepest going halfway up her calves. 

As she made it to the halfway point, the ground shook suddenly. She turned upstream. The bridge had begun to shift, it’s blocky stones sliding apart and together until it formed a humanoid shape with two inky black eyes peering at her. 

The bridge troll took a thunderous step towards her, sending a wave of water that knocked Charlie backwards into the creek. It’s second foot fall sent a wave that completely submerged her, sweeping her downstream into a deeper pool. Before being pushed under, she saw the Fairy Guard begin shifting into their large forms, roaring viciously at the being, but it all became muted and blurry as she was thrown to the bed by the current. Her shoes had twisted themselves around her neck, forcing her to desperately claw at them. 

Then the shape of a woman appeared. She was translucent, made of moving water and constantly shifting, never quite there. She offered Charlie her hand, and without a second thought, the girl took it. She was suddenly pulled back to the shallows, forced onto her feet by the pull of her saviour. The cats were having trouble fighting the beast, unable to touch the water of the river. 

_ Take the sword, child.  _

“What sword?” Charlie whipped her around, looking to see if she somehow missed a very obvious weapon sticking out of the ground.

_ Reach for it in the water. Believe in it and it will aid you. _ Charlie plunged her hand into the water, instinct pumping through her muscles as readily as blood. Her fingers curled around a hilt, and from the river she pulled a fantastic sword. It fit perfectly in her hand.

“Holy fucking shit,” she murmured.

_ Now, face your destiny! _

Charlie ran at the troll without pausing, heart racing and eyes wild as she struck the stone in the leg. The sword cut through it like glass. It sent shards of rock bursting out like shrapnel as the creature fell, letting out a guttural moan as it crashed into the stream. Charlie had to duck as rock crashed around her as the troll fell apart and dragged herself onto shore as the last of the beast fell into the river.

“Charlie! Charlie are you ok?!” Oscar was running across the stones poking out from the water, followed by a furious Tiffany.

“Oscar for gods’ sakes! If I get wet I will personally destroy you.” 

“I’m fine. Guys really, I’m fine.” The ginger tabby purred violently as he rubbed against her. Tiffany merely gave her a quick sniff before retreating from her drenched body.

“Where did you find a sword?”

“Huh? Oh! A woman in the water...she told me to grab for it and I just...took it.” Charlie held the weapon gingerly. It was perfectly weighted in her grip, the handle fit for her hand and the blade gleaming in the sun. “Err...thank you,” Charlie called out to the river. From the stream, a sheath washed upon the shore. Charlie smiled broadly. “Thank you very much!” She gave it a quick flick to get the excess moisture off before she sheathed the sword and swung it onto her back. 

“If you think a silly sword is gonna be enough, you have no idea what you’re heading into.”

“What does that mean, Tiffany?”

“It means we’re coming with you Charlie,” Oscar said excitedly, eyes shining in delight.

* * *

Charlie was struggling not to shiver in her now damp clothes, but the fire they had made did little to warm her body.

“You have to get out of those clothes,” Tiffany muttered as she groomed herself.

“I don’t have any spares...and I am not getting naked in the middle of some strange woods.” 

“Well when you die of a cold, don’t blame me.” The long hair hissed at a specific twig that had tangled itself deep into her fur. Taking the grumbling cat into her arms, Charlie slowly teased the stick out. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

“I know, but I thought you could do well for a pair of opposable thumbs.” Tiffany scowled, but after being put back on the ground with a friendly pet she shifted into her huge, fluffy, leopard-like form. With a soft plop, she nestled next to Charlie and began softly grooming her.

“Hey!”

“I thought you could do with some cat-care,” the being rumbled softly as she curled around the cold girl. Oscar soon joined them, creating a cocoon of warm cat bodies around Charlie. The girl yawned and snuggled into Tiffany, rubbing her stomach idly.

“Thank you, Tiff.”

“Don’t call me Tiff...and you’re welcome, Charlie.”

* * *

 

“Charlie...Charlie, wake up.” 

“Mmmm.”

A rough tongue soundly ran over her cheek, making her finally pry open her eyes. She was met by two icy ones staring back.

“Alright, Tiffany. I’m awake. What’s the matter?” It was almost dawn, pink light slowly beginning to poke through the canopy of the forest. A thin sheet of frost covered the ground, Charlie being spared from the ice by the guards’ warm bodies.

“We need to get moving...staying too long in one place is dangerous.”

“Ok, ok.” She sat up and idly played with the ring between her fingers. “So...how will the ring help me find my father?” Tiffany sneezed lightly and shifted back into a house cat. Oscar had also shrunk and was scratching around a fallen log. His ears perked sharply.

“The other Princes might now,” he meowed. Tiffany snorted.

“We’d be attacked before we even see the Fallen Spire.”

“But if the other Princes of the Universe can help me, we have to try.” The longhair groaned and began plodding through the trees, pointing towards the South with her tail.

“It’s that way...but don’t blame me when we’re all thrown in the dungeons.

* * *

 

Charlie was humming to herself as they traversed the forest. Oscar would run ahead a few yards then wait for them. Tiffany preferred taking her time and walking slowly next to Charlie. However, that did mean being the target of her random questions about fae.

“So do unicorns exist?”

“Yes.”

“What about dragons?”

“Yes, them too.”

“Pooka?”

“Of co- How do you know about Pooka?”

“My dad...he told me all the stories. Wanted me to be safe I guess.”

“He always was smart.” The pair stopped. Oscar was standing a few feet ahead, hair raised and ears straining for sound. “What?”

“I hear something…” Tiffany’s ears perked up as the two grew into their fearsome large forms. “I smell something…” Charlie put a hand on the hilt of her sword, struggling to perceive what the cats were so obviously detecting.

They finally made themselves known.

Four riders, dressed in black, hooded and masked, stood on their mounts 20 yards off in the thickening treeline. Three were armed, one with a sabre, the other with a crossbow, the last with a bow. The last one didn’t appear to have any weapons.

“State your business, Fairy Guard.”

“And why should we? Who are you to question us?” Tiffany’s growl was so low and thumping that Charlie felt it pulse in her chest. The archer’s eyes focused on Charlie, almost forcing her to take a step back.

“You think the Fairy Court is the only domain that boasts guards?” His gaze only shifted a second to Tiffany and Oscar before resuming its resting place on her. “Now tell us what you are doing so far from your master.”

“We are not tied to him. We roam where we like,” Oscar replied, slowly stalking towards Charlie, putting himself between the riders and the girl. 

“And her?”

Charlie felt a lump form in her throat. She tightened her grip on her blade, trying to keep her breath steady. 

“Leave us, strangers. We have no quarrel with you.” 

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“I’m no one,” Charlie said suddenly, her legs instinctually getting into their fighting stance. Usually it happened so quickly she didn’t realize, but this fight was taking an excruciatingly long time to start.

“Oh, no one you say?” The crossbowman chuckled, leaning back in his saddle. “I’ve never seen a no one…”

“Perhaps the Princes would enjoy meeting a no one.” The swordsman’s smirk shone through his eyes. 

“The Princes? You’re guards for the Princes?” Charlie pushed past the cats, despite their desperate commands for her to stay behind them. “I’m looking for my father. They said that the Princes of the Universe could help me find him.” Their stances immediately shifted from relaxed to taught with nerves. 

“What’s your name…” The fourth, the unarmed one finally spoke. 

Charlie faltered. Names were dangerous, powerful.

“What is your name,” the archer said, rougher and more aggressive than his partner. “Tell us, or else…” She clenched her jaw and took a step back, hand stretched behind her to feel for her guards. The archer nocked an arrow and aimed it pointedly behind her...at the cats.

“Wait! It’s Charlie! My name is Charlie Hutton and I’m looking for my father Jim.” The tense silence could have been shattered by a pin dropping.

“You need to come with us.”

“Like hell she will,” Oscar hissed, standing so close to Charlie that his fiery orange fur tickled her leg. 

“You can come willingly or unwillingly, but either way we’re taking you to the Princes.”

“It’s ok Oscar…”

“But Charlie-”

“We don’t have a choice...take us to the Princes.”


	5. Reunion

The cats flanked her, fur raised so they appeared to be agitated puff balls. The riders covered both sides and the front and back of the party as they moved through the brilliantly colored trees. It was a tense group, the only sound permeating the icy silence being their footsteps. 

Towards midday they stopped by a stream to water the horses.

Thankful to be able to rest her aching feet, Charlie sat down and began getting the accumulation of pebbles she had obtained from out of her shoe. Tiffany and Oscar watched the riders, but eventually approached the creek to drink. It was at this time the unarmed rider approached.

He had removed his mask and hood, revealing a dark face with soft, gentle green eyes. He squatted next to her and offered her a waterskin with a warm smile.

“Here. Thirsty?”

“Thanks,” she murmured, taking it and sipping the cold water slowly, letting it cover her horribly dry mouth and throat.

“My name’s Rami…” She handed the skin back to him and nodded, returning to cleaning out her shoes. “Er...You said your name was Charlie?” She nodded again, not looking at him. He coughed and shifted so he was seated beside her. “You’re mortal aren’t you?” Another nod. “How...did you get here?”

“Is that any of your business?” She gave him a withering glance and put her sneakers back on, angrily tightening the laces. “Your friends want you.” She jerked her head towards the horses, where the riders were beginning to mount again. Rami nodded and stood, returning to his friends. 

“Charlie, you feeling ok?” Oscar and Tiffany rejoined her as they moved back towards the trail they were following.

“I’m fine...just not used to walking this much.” 

“Would you like to ride with me?” Rami had brought his horse to a stop beside them, offering his hand towards Charlie. She huffed indignantly and continued walking.

“I said I’m fine.”

“We need to move faster if we’re to reach the Princes by nightfall. So unless you can keep up with a horse, I’d advise you to take his offer.” The archer had revealed his face now as well. His face was extremely expressive, dark eyes staring intently at him. Charlie snorted but took Rami’s hand and heaved herself onto the mount. They took off at a gallop, the cats running as silent as death beside them. 

* * *

Tiffany had fallen behind from the group. Her sides heaved with extreme effort as she fell to the ground, turning back into cat form.

“Tiffany! Tiffany what’s wrong?” Charlie had forced Rami to stop and let her down so she could help her companion. 

“Our larger forms take up a lot of magic...we can’t keep it up forever.” Oscar, also visibly winded, collapsed next to the longhair. 

“Don’t worry, Tiff,” Charlie murmured, collecting the cat into her arms. She handed the exhausted guard to Rami, who hesitated before the cat was thrust into his arms. Taking Oscar next, she looked at the other riders. “Well? I can’t carry both of them.” The archer sighed frustratedly.

“Gwil. Take the cat.”

“I’m...allergic.”

“Bullshit. I’ll take him.” The blonde crossbowman leaned down and wrapped the ginger tabby carefully into the crook of his arms.

“Thank you…”

“I’ll take good care of him. Don’t worry. I’m Ben.” He smiled kindly at her. Charlie gave a thankful nod and rejoined Rami, taking Tiffany’s weary body into her arms and they raced off into the woods with slightly more urgency.

* * *

Charlie heard the Fallen Spire before she saw it. A loud, thunderous cacophony slowly rose in volume as the road became more well defined in the forest. The treeline broke apart and revealed a castle built onto foreboding slate colored cliffs, waterfalls emptying into a dark pit of foam and dark water that coursed in rapids and dangerous currents. The path curled up gigantic lengths of rock, obelisks that appeared to have fallen and created a step like mountain leading towards the palace. It was framed by gigantic, snow peaked mountains that jutted into the sky like teeth.

They drove the horses up the twisting road until they reached the top which leveled out into a courtyard enclosed by stone walls that had seeming sprung up from the ground. Everything was so man-made looking and yet lacked the jutting lines found in human architecture. It was as if the earth had grown the castle itself.

“Welcome to the Fallen Spire,” Rami whispered, the curl twitching at the edge of his mouth.

“It’s beautiful,” Charlie muttered, her arms wrapped tightly around Tiffany’s now sleeping body. She shook the cat gently and urged Tiffany to wake. She refused to wake, breath still laboring in her chest. “She isn’t getting better. Is there someone who can help her?” They dismounted and Rami called at the guards standing at the parapets to find a healer. “Oh, Tiffany. Please be ok.” Ben revealed that Oscar was fairing a little better, but also needed extended rest.

“Let me take her, Charlie. We’ll get them somewhere safe. Joe and Gwilym will take you to see the Princes.”

“I don’t want to leave them.”

“It’s ok, Charlie. They’re going to be alright.” Rami patted her back and cradled the longhair.

“Come on. You wanted to meet the Princes didn’t you?” The archer, Joe, pulled her arm roughly into the castle.

“I can walk by myself, thank you,” she growled. She ripped her arm from his grasp. She struggled not to lash out at him as he rolled his eyes. He and Gwilym, the swordsman, finally brought her into a large room. Two long wooden tables stretched on either side of the high-ceilinged room, benches running along the sides. In the middle was a large fire pit, now merely smoldering with the coals of a previous blaze. A small stage rose up at one end and held smaller tables and singular chairs. Three were jutting out of the wall, each ornately decorated. One was pure marble and the arms were carved into prancing unicorns. Opal horses framed the back and a crown emblem made of quartz stood at the top. The center was slate colored, like the castle, but had a bright white rock running through it in veins that resembled lightning. It had clawed feet and a roaring lion emblazoned in gold on the back. The final seat was a dark blue, almost black, and appeared to be decorated with all manners of jewels and precious dusts, creating an appearance of entire galaxies being depicted on its surface. A pair of obsidian wings stuck out at the top, that if someone was to sit in it they would appear to be an angel. 

“Wait here. Don’t...touch anything alright?” Charlie glared at Joe as he and the swordsman exited through a side door. Left to her own devices Charlie proceeded to touch as much of the room that didn’t look important. The tables were finely hewn and polished, as well as the benches. They reminded her of her father’s work. When he wasn’t a hairdresser, he would routinely create furniture. It was a wonderful process to watch, how delicately he sanded and finished the wood, or how he smelled of sap after his day, or how he would have bits of sawdust clinging to him. Charlie suddenly felt very sad. And very alone, like when she had first arrived in the Otherworld. She sighed and sank down onto one of the benches and traced the lines on the table with her finger. 

“Charlie?” The voice was so soft that she had barely heard it. But it hit her somewhere deep inside her heart. She turned around, and the face she had forgotten many years ago was standing before her. 

He was different. Not older, sadder perhaps. His blue eyes shone with pain and surprise, but they were the same ones that twinkled when he made her laugh. The same strange tattoo rested on his temple. He wasn’t wearing the billowy white shirt and black pants she had always seen him. In fact he seemed slightly ordinary. A soft blue shirt and white pants and his golden hair tousled messily as always. He took a wary step forward, hand outstretched and fingertips shaking, afraid to touch her.

“I...I know you.”

“Oh my god you can hear me…” His whole body was shaking as he put a fearful hand on her arm. He let out an ecstatic laugh, eyes wide with surprise. “Look! Look you can touch me!” Her took her hand and pressed their palms together, smiling like a child on Christmas. “Charlie...fair maiden…” Charlie leapt up in recognition and wrapped her arms around him.

“Roger! Oh my god Roger! You’re real! You’re really real!” They both cried out in joy as he swung her around. 

“I thought you’d never see me again,” he whispered, burying his face into her shoulder and holding her tightly to his chest. “I thought you’d never believe in faeries again...in me…” Charlie shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Roger. I’m so sorry…” The door opened behind them, and Charlie was hit by another round of nostalgia. “Starman? Deacy?” They were just as she remembered them. He was still lanky and boasted a head full of dark curly hair and thoughtful look on his face. And he still had that beautiful curly ginger hair and smiling eyes that warmed her like a blanket. 

“Charlie you’re alright,” exclaimed Brian as he ran up to her worry melting from his face into a smile. 

“You’ve grown up so much.” John gave her hand a loving squeeze and she blushed. She hadn’t felt like this in so long. She hadn’t had a family around her in so long.

* * *

They tried to explain as best they could, piecing together the different threads to try and create a complete picture.

“I know my father left to take care of me, and that’s why the Fairy King hates him now. Cause he broke his promise.” John nodded. They were all seated at one of the long tables. Brian and John on one side and Roger and Charlie on the other. Roger had refused to let go of Charlie’s hand since they had been reunited.

“We knew Freddie was hurt...but we didn’t think he’d do what he did.”

“What? What did he do that was so terrible?” Roger shifted uncomfortably.

“Charlie...he stole you when you were a child. Right from your bed. Thankfully we learned about it and returned you but...that’s what made us fight.”

“Me? I’m the reason that the Princes of the Universe aren’t a thing anymore?”

“No,” Brian said quickly, “Absolutely not, Charlie. We broke apart because Freddie...he’s taken bad company and...his heart grows darker every passing day. When we tried to stop him...it almost tore the fabric of reality. After that we made a promise to protect you.” Roger clutched her hand more tightly.

“We’ll take you home,” he whispered. Charlie shook her head.

“No. I can’t. My father is here, in the Otherworld. I need to find him.” She took the ring and held it to Deaky. “Please...Tiffany said you’d be able to find him.” John took it and ran his fingers around it. He glanced back up at her.

“Are you sure?”

“He disappeared three years ago into the forest. And I’ve been getting dreams. He’s in trouble and he needs my help. Considering the circumstances, yes I’m sure. I’m not going home without him.”

“It’s too dangerous to stay in the Otherworld,” Roger said. His knuckles were white from clenching his fist. “What if Freddie gets you again. He’ll never let you escape again.”

“I didn’t escape! He let me go. I need to find him. I need to bring him home.” The three looked at each other for a few seconds, having a silent argument. Eventually John nodded and turned back to Charlie.

“Ok.”


	6. The Princes and the Daughter

Roger insisted that they wait until Charlie was fully rested and fed before they began. Despite her arguments, the other fae agreed. Dinner was ordered and while they waited, Roger showed Charlie the Fallen Spire.Towers jutted out of the cliff faces overlooking the falls, with outcrops and walkways turning into a hive of buildings. The main entrance that she had entered in was merely an outer most part, the real fortress lying deep in the ground, the thunderous noise deafened by many feet of dense rock. The river tangled its way through the Autumn Lands, raging towards the horizon like white stallions.

“It’s amazing…” Roger grinned and leaned against the barrier that separated them from a hundred foot drop into swirling torrents.

“It is, isn’t it? Deaky really outdid himself when he made it.”

“John made all of this?” Charlie gaped in astonishment. “How?” 

“The Princes are some of the most powerful beings in the universe. John, well he isn’t an exception. He holds control over rock, crystal, gem...everything from the element of Earth...So all this is quite...well quite extravagant use of his powers.”

“What about you? I remember stories about you being a powerful being too.” He smirked and looked around. He climbed onto the barrier and steadied himself on the marble pillar beside him, peering down towards the river. Without a single word he walked off, causing Charlie to yell and rush to the edge. “ROGER? ROGER!” A strong wind suddenly picked up and she grasped the barrier as a huge creature flapped its wings and rose in front of her. It was a gryphon, golden and shining as brightly as the summer sun. It managed to perch itself and screeched, making Charlie scuttle backwards. Then, as if with a snap of his fingers, Roger was standing in front of her and cackling like a maniac. “You ass! That was not funny!”

“Really? Cause it’s pretty funny to me...aw don’t be like that Charlie!”

“You haven’t changed,” she muttered, failing to repress a smile as he helped her up.

“You have. Look at you! You’ve really become-” he stopped, face coloring slightly. Charlie’s eyebrow arched in curiosity.

“What? Come on. Spit it out, Rog.” It was unusual find him so flustered. He usually exuded confidence that bordered arrogance. But now he couldn’t even look at her, ears burning terribly.

“Just...you’ve become a fair maiden…don’t laugh!”

“I’m sorry, Rog,” she snickered, “but I am not a ‘fair maiden’. Come on, what else have the great Princes created?” He shook his head, smiling to himself, and pulled her towards one of the higher towers

* * *

Opening the trapdoor, Roger led Charlie into a dark, domed room. It held dark blue velveted furniture and wooden tables covered in parchment and golden measurement tools. Roger ignored them all and went to a crystal orb seated in the center of the observatory. He flicked it, sending a crystal clear sound reverberating through the room. The ball began to glow, and a wave of energy exploded from it, submerging the two into a world full of stars and galaxies, nebulas and comets streaking through the emptiness of the universe.

“Here…” Roger pulled her to one of the stars and cupped her palms around it. “You’re holding a star.”

“W-what?”

“You’re holding a star, Charlie Hutton. Not the strange scientific thing you have in the mortal world. You are holding the magic that stars are made of. When you stare into the sky and feel that warmth? That’s this star...and that one...and that constellation.” Charlie was staring so intently at the small, fluttering thing in her hands that she didn’t notice Roger staring intently at her. He was lost in thought and the soft sparkle reflecting in her eyes.

Time was such a strange thing. Fae didn’t understand it, not really. It didn’t affect them, they lived outside of it. Yes days and nights passed, but time was nonexistent to the fair folk. Roger had never understood it as deeply as Brian had, nor did he care too. He was content with the workings of his world,; but now, seeing Charlie not as a child but as a young woman made him reconsider his existence, and hers as well. When she went back, she’d grow older. She’d wither and die, being put back into the Earth that made her. Roger couldn’t comprehend it, he couldn’t imagine suddenly being without this beautiful soul in his life. 

But this was how mortals were. This is why they were stronger than any fae or creature. They passed through life, knowing there was an end, and yet continued anyway. But Roger never wanted Charlie’s story to end. It was too wonderful.

He took her hands and brought the tiny star in front of both of them. It twinkled gently before rising with its sisters and brothers and slowly sinking back into the protection of the crystal orb.

“That was so beautiful…”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Come on, Brian and John are probably wondering where we are.”

* * *

Charlie couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten like this...with a family. Perhaps some Christmas, a long time ago. But this by far more extravagant. Brian had issued a feast to be held for all the inhabitants of the Fallen Spire and the main hall was filled with laughter and music. The attendants showed the true variety of the Otherworld as satyrs, faeries, wee folk, dwarves, and all other sort of fantastic beings crowded into the tables, eating and drinking and being merry.

The stage was for the Princes and their Heroes, the guards that had brought her. The Heroes consisted of Ben the Huntsman, Joe the Ranger, Gwilym the Swordsman, and Rami the Magician. They were representatives of the Princes and kept peace in their domain.

And Joe seemed very uncomfortable sitting across from Charlie, considering that morning they had been enemies and now she was practically family of his king. 

But Charlie didn’t care. She was focused on one of the other heroes. The second she had eaten enough to satisfy the Princes that she was well fed, she leaned to Rami.

“Can you take me to see Oscar and Tiffany?”

“Oh of course. They were just exhausted. They’ll be back on their feet soon.” 

Roger, who had spent the entire meal urging Charlie to eat and drink more, now watched tensely as Rami led her away and through the side door. But she had insisted he stay and he didn’t want her to feel like he was stalking her. So he remained in his seat, anxiously tapping the table and ignoring the festivities.

* * *

“Tiffany? Tiffany are you awake?” The poor thing was worn thin. She was still so tired that she could only weakly push her head into Charlie’s hand and give a pathetic mew. “Aw, darling. You shouldn’t have pushed yourself so hard.”

“Had to make sure you were safe,” she murmured as she shakily pulled herself into Charlie’s lap from the wicker basket she had been resting in. Oscar was still fast asleep in his own blanketed basket by the fire. Rami had made them comfy little beds to keep them warm and safe while they recovered. Tiffany purred at Charlie’s soft pets and loving whispers.

“It’s ok now. I’m safe…”

“When they get stronger they need to return to the Fairy King’s court,” Rami said, joining Charlie on the stone floor of the kitchen. He gave the cat’s ears a little scratch. “The farther away they are from his magic, the harder it is for them to use it.”

“But…”

“Tiffany, Rami’s right. The Princes will keep me safe and sound. You and Oscar need to go home before you hurt yourself.” The cat muttered more disagreements, but it was quickly shortened as Charlie hummed a soft tune to the cat. She slowly fell back asleep and Charlie returned her to her warm nest. “Thank you...for everything.” He smiled shyly, looking over at the sleeping cats.

“You’re welcome. And don’t mind the others...they might seem a little gruff but they’re good men.”

“Yeah, I guess Joe and I really didn’t get off on the best foot.”

“He’s been through a lot...We all have, but you’re a friend of the Princes. That means you’re a friend of ours.” He offered his hand and pulled her up from the floor. “And that means we have your back.”

* * *

John gave her his bed for the night. Charlie tried to argue against it, but he simply smiled that warm smile and shook his head.

“Fae don’t need as much sleep as mortals. And fae like me really don’t need sleep at all.” His room was simple, one wall covered with shelves that were crammed with books and interesting looking rocks. His bed was equally homely, covered in a quilt that intricately depicted the Earth and cupped in a frame of clay. “I haven’t been to the Mortal World in a long time...how is it?”

“A mess, as usual.” Charlie flopped down onto the bed. It was ungodly how soft it felt. “War, famine, disease, injustice…”

“Do people care for the Earth?”

“Some do. Some make it their entire life’s mission to save it, but a lot of people think that we’ve damaged it too much.”

“Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s tough.” He smiled and glanced out the window.

“She?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Veronica...you know her better as Gaia, Mother Nature, Mother Earth…”

“The Earth’s name is Veronica?”

“Yes. It’s a beautiful name...I miss her so much sometimes…” His eyes suddenly felt very old, the lines at the corners revealing the many smiles he had shared, and the softness telling stories of seeing many things. “It kills me that we inhabit different worlds...if I could I would give up all my powers just to be with her again.”

“You love her a lot,” Charlie noticed, sitting cross-legged on the bed. John laughed gently.

“Oh yes. More than anything...and our children.”

“You have children?”

“Oh yes. Quite a lot, actually. Caves, mountains, valleys and canyons and geothermal systems...we created them together. I know they aren’t children in the sense mortals know it, but they hold such a place in my heart I can’t think of them as anything else. When you and your father return, could you tell Veronica I still think of her always, and that I love her?”

“Of course! I might annoy her with how much I gush about you, so be careful with what you want.” He laughed. It was filled with such sunshine and comfort that Charlie knew why Veronica loved John. 

“Your father was always so kind to her. That’s what I liked most about Jim, he always treated my dear Veronica with respect. He never took her for granted. Come now, I’ve babbled too much. You need rest.” With a tender good night, he left Charlie in the soft glow of the crystals that gave off a dim light in darkness. 

* * *

That night she had the worst nightmare of them all. Her father had his head in his hands, back against a wall. He looked so pained and tired.

“Papa?” Charlie kept crying out for him, but he wasn’t there suddenly. There were only shadows and monsters and gnashing teeth.

And it didn’t end. It was a dull, constant panic that didn’t wake her up like the heart-bursting fear of the nightmares. She was trapped in rock, unable to move or breathe. She was suffocating and vibrating, wanting to break free but she couldn’t. She kept calling for her Papa. Papa promised he’d keep her safe. He’d promise he’d always be there.

But he didn’t come.

* * *

The next morning, they sat around the Map Room of the Princes. Deaky would slowly turn the ring over in his hands before passing it to Brian, who would do the same and mutter something incoherently. This happened a couple of times, each pass or whisper causing Charlie to lean forward and stare intently. Roger quietly drummed his fingers on the table. He was a powerful fae, but knew little about the workings of magical artifacts. Give him an enchanted flower or the footprints of a wild beast and he could tell you everything you needed to know.

Being idle did not suit Roger, and he began to walk around the room. Charlie maintained her eyesight on the ring, scarcely blinking. On this pass, she noticed a wisp of color peeking through the center, disappearing as John took it.

“Wait…” She reached forward and carefully passed the ring over the map. The color would flare up and then disappear as she moved across the landscape. Bringing it closer to her eye, she suddenly saw a kaleidoscope of bright colors, solid and deep. The colors all came from the center of the map, from a drawing of a deep sinkhole that bore down into the rock. “There…” John took the ring and looked where her finger laid. 

“He’s in the Caverns of the Sluagh,” John whispered, face growing pale. Roger immediately returned to the table.

“Why would he be there?”

“I don’t know. But we must leave immediately.”

“Why? What’s the Cavern of Sluagh?” Charlie took the ring back, clutching it closely to her heart. What place was so terrible that it made even the Princes afraid? Brian ran a hand over his stressed features, shaking his head.

“It is the entrance to what mortals know as Hell. It is filled with the most depraved spirits that have been morphed and mangled into terrifying creatures where they serve dark fae.”

“But we can get him right?”

“We can but-”

“Charlie you are not coming. The Caverns of the Sluagh are too dangerous.” Roger was bristling. 

“But-”

“No,” Roger hissed, a little more aggressively than he intended, but he refused to let her win. “You are staying here.” She clenched her teeth so hard her jaw began to ache, but it took all of that force to keep her venomous thoughts from becoming words. Brian pulled Roger away, letting John put a soft hand on her shoulder.

“Charlie, this is not a place where mortals can go. Whatever is holding your father is very powerful, and very evil. Please stay.” Deaky’s voice was so soft, pleading almost, that Charlie felt her stubbornness wash away. 

“Ok, Deaky...but please. Please bring him back,” she choked. He nodded, and gave her a look that was worth more than a thousand shouted promises.


	7. Let Us Cling Together

Roger hastily put on his dark leather armor, his lion emblazoned brilliantly on his chest. Usually took care in preparing for battle but he was too angry for that. Frustration made his hands clumsy as they tightened his gauntlets to his wrists. The soft knock at his door did little to distract him.

“Come in,” he called out gruffly, yanking the chest piece down violently.

“Er...Roger, I…” Charlie tapped her leg, struggling to find the right words. He stared back at her with those damn baby blue eyes, hardened by determination and waspish feelings, and continued lacing his boots. “Be careful?” Roger stopped. Why was that what turned his heart? Why were those two words, said so softly as if volume would send it shattering to the floor in a flurry of shards, that made him want to weep. 

“Don’t worry about me, Charlie.” Roger forced his voice to keep steady. They looked at each other. Then she took his hand.

It was more exhilarating than any flight above the clouds, or tempest that rocked entire oceans. All the lightning he could conjure was nothing compared to her touch.

“Roger,” she whispered taking his other hand. Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers.

“I will. And I’ll bring your father back. I promise.”

* * *

They took off immediately; Brian as a winged stallion as black as night, John as a unicorn with silver hair and gentle eyes, and Roger as a golden lion. They disappeared into the forest without a glance backwards, set on their quest.

It was only when Rami put a light hand of Charlie’s shoulder that she returned from her blank stare to where they slipped into the trees. He didn’t say a word as he directed back to the palace.

Oscar and Tiffany had left in the night, promising to return once their magic was restored, but Charlie found it difficult to imagine the Fairy King letting them return. Rami tried to distract her with lessons from Gwilym.

“Your stance is good for fist-fighting, but you need to bend your knees more. The sword is an extension of your body, so you need to shift your center of balance.” While being more attuned to a sabre or foil, he had his fair share of knowledge when it came to longswords. Charlie took his advice and moved. “Good.”

“You’re going to be better than Gwil before you know it,” Rami smiled from where he was seated in the open courtyard. Joe was busying himself with his weapons, sharpening his daggers and checking the durability of his bow. “Where did you find that anyway?”

“Er...A river nymph gave it to me...to fight a bridge troll.” Gwilym’s eyes widened in surprise and respect. Even Joe perked up at that.

“Can I see it?” Charlie handed it over and Gwilym inspected it closer. “This is a beautiful blade. And a loyal one too. Keep it by your side. I don’t think you’ll ever find it’s equal.” He unsheathed his own sword and displayed it. The blade was beautifully forged and the handle curled and unfurled like twisting vines to form the bellguard. “A sword is a great companion, and an honorable weapon.”

“Is that a jab at me,” Ben snorted as he approached, slinging his crossbow and quiver from his shoulder. “I did a quick perimeter check. Nothing unusual, Rami.” 

“Alright...maybe I’m just being paranoid.” Joe stared at the Magician for a few seconds before standing and sheathing his dagger.

“I’ll take another look...just in case.”

“Is something wrong,” Charlie asked. Rami shrugged defeatedly.

“A bad feeling I can’t shake. I don’t know why.”

“It’s fine, Rami,” Joe murmured, patting his shoulder, “I’ll do some scouting.” He nodded thankfully as his friend left for the gate.

* * *

The sky had grown dark with storm clouds. The wind bit at the walls of the castles and any exposed skin it could reach, desperately trying to sink into the bones of its targets. Despite being in the confines of the castle, its perpetual howling made her shiver.

Then came the yells.

“RAMI. SOUND THE ALARM. SOUND THE ALARM.” Loud bells suddenly rang out from the guard towers. Gwilym, who had been with Charlie, dashed to the nearest window.

“Oh my gods. Charlie, come on we have to go.” His face was pale with fear. He grabbed her hand and pulled her farther into the castle. It wasn’t until they passed an open hallway facing the gate that she saw what was attacking. A huge mass of inky darkness flowed into the courtyard, only being fended off by Rami, who was somehow projecting a shimmering barrier to keep the mass from advancing. Ben and Joe were hurrying others into the building, ordering them to begin barring the door. They called out to Rami, urging him inside, but the magician stayed his ground. The mass was pushing into the barrier, forcing cracks in the magic.

Charlie was paralyzed with horror as it broke through and enveloped the man. He was forced to the ground, coils of black energy tying themselves around his struggling body. Gwilym pulled her roughly away. She suddenly realized she was screaming, and the mass had turned towards where they were.

“Don’t stop, Charlie! Keep running!” Gwilym threw her ahead of him as the entity crashed into the hallway, filling the corridor with shadow. He faced it, blade raised in waiting for the encroaching thing. It paused, and Gwilym glanced back at her. “Do as I say! Find the others!” 

Charlie bolted towards the stairwell, hastily unsheathing her own sword as she took it two steps at a time. Crashing and shouts belted out behind her, but she kept moving.

She bursted into the main hall and searched frantically for Ben and Joe. The room was completely abandoned, spare a man in tails standing as still as a statue in the middle.

“How kind of you to join me, Little Hutton.” Charlie’s breath caught in her throat, the hairs on her neck standing on end. A shiver jolted through her as he turned, eyes dark and haunting as they bore into her soul. She raised her blade and Pol laughed. “Now now, didn’t your father tell you it was rude to point?” His arm extended and the same black energy that attacked them wrapped around her body like a python. Her blade dropped from her hand with a clatter on the floor as she was held still for Pol to inspect her. “You’ll learn manners soon enough.” He smirked and Charlie’s vision went dark.

* * *

Charlie woke up cold. Cold and heavy. Her bones felt like they were made of concrete and her blood refused to provide warmth to her body. And everything was hopeless. Depression settled on her heavily and twisted itself brutally into her heart. There was nothing; nothing worth living for, nothing to see or touch, nothing to experience. All there was was a cold floor and darkness. She began to cry. It was the heartfelt, aching weeping that she read about in books.

“Who’s there…” A strong, soft voice suddenly spoke out, forcing her to open her eyes. It was pitch black, but something was moving a few feet away from her. She struggled onto her elbows from the fetal position she had been in and pushed herself away from the voice.

“Don’t hurt me...please I don’t know where I am…” The being went silent, the only noise was its heavy breathing.

“Charlie?” Big arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her and their owner gave a choked sob. “Oh, Charlie Horse. Oh my little girl…”

“Papa? Oh my god Papa.” The voice was no longer a voice. It was her father, wrapping his strong, hairy arms around her. She clung to him as tightly as she could, crying into his soft, flanneled shoulder. The familiar tickle of his moustache as he kissed her face made her sob even more, his calloused hand cupping her face. 

“Oh my sweet darling.”

“I’m so cold,” she muttered, forgetting everything from before. She was a small child again, afraid of the heavy feeling that made itself at home in her. “I’m not ok, Papa.”

“Shh, it’s ok. I’m here. The feeling will go away, I promise.” He held her close to his chest, a gentle hand petting her hair.  “You shouldn’t be here,” Jim whispered. Charlie grasped his shirt and buried her face deeper into him.

“I went into the forest and entered the Otherworld. I met Freddie, Papa. I went to find you and I met the other Princes, but...but I don’t know where I am anymore.”

“Oh how rude of me,” a disembodied voice cackled. The pair were suddenly plunged into light. They sat in the middle of a large chamber, faced by a large obsidian throne. Pol’s seat. His smile was twisted and large as he approached. “The warmest welcome, dear little Charlotte.” Jim’s grip on her tightened. “Oh don’t worry, Hutton. I won’t hurt her yet. I hate to get my hands needlessly dirty.”

“Let her go, you bastard. She has no part in this.”

“Oh, doesn’t she?” Pol clasped his hands behind his back and bent down to look Jim in the eye. “I believe she does. Not only is she your pretty little babe, it seems that the Fairy King’s infatuations are a common trait in your family.” He turned to Charlie and smiled with sickening sweetness. “But that shall be something soon remedied.” 

“The Princes will kill you,” Charlie spat. Despite her shaking, defiance flared in her like a fire taking hold of tinder. Pol’s smile vanished.

“Will they? Then I better begin my plan sooner than expected.” Pol’s dark magic erupted from his hand and ripped Charlie and her father apart. She tried to struggle, but the coils held fast, tightening and pressing the air from her lungs. The pain was the worst thing Charlie had ever experienced. It was as if her blood had fallen asleep, pricking needles through her veins as black electricity coursed over the black entity holding Charlie still. Her muscles contracted and spasmed irregularly, forcing a tortured groan from her throat. “Oh, sweet little Charlotte. It is about to become so much worse.” 

* * *

Charlie lost track of how long he tormented her. It could have been hours or minutes and she wouldn’t have known the difference. It all felt like an eternity.

The tendrils undid themselves and let Charlie collapse to the floor. Her throat was sore and rough from yelling, her eyelids too heavy to open. Throbbing pain forced her to focus on breathing and nothing else. If she let her mind wander she was sure her lungs would stop their pained intake of air. 

Her father’s arms wrapped around her once again. They were back in the dark cell. All Charlie’s mind could muster was a weak ‘thank god’.

“Oh god, Charlie please say something. Please,” Jim choked. 

“Hurts bad,” she finally muttered, eyes still pressed close. He sighed in relief and rested her in his lap, arms bundling her close to him. 

“I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”


	8. The Princes of the Universe

Charlie woke up to being ripped from her father again, thrown into the chamber where Pol paced angrily. 

“Where is it, you insolent child,” he snapped. His hand yanked Charlie’s head back. “Or do I need to make you bleed to get it.”

“Fuck off,” she spat. Pol was about to threaten her again when his eyes darted to the chain around her neck. A disgusting grin formed on his face.

“Oh, nevermind then, my sweet.” With a yank he pulled the ring off her neck and held it in his palm. “So this is how you stayed hidden so well. I must say, Jim, you’re smarter than I took you for.” The man didn’t say anything, only glaring at Pol with hellish intensity. He had known from three years of being held prisoner by the Sluagh that yelling and cursing did nothing but waste your energy. Pol squinted and tipped his face up towards him. “No words? Maybe after I finally have the Fairy King, I’ll keep her.” He pushed Jim’s eyes towards Charlie’s limp body, suspended by his dark energy snaking around her. “A cute little pet.” His jaw clenched.

“You’ll never win, Pol. That I know.” 

“Oh, so wise and all-seeing you are then? I’m shaking with terror,” Pol mocked, twisting the ring in his hands. “Now, shall you call him or shall I make you.” He stared defiantly, saying nothing. Pol tsked lightly. “I’ll give you a different choice. Call him, or I kill the girl.” The tentacles released Charlie save for a single tendril wrapped around her neck, holding her a foot off the ground. Her hands clawed weakly at the coil as she gagged for breath. “Oh she does have some fight left in her after all!”

“Stop! Stop, I’ll call him! I’ll call him, just let her go.” Jim’s face was red with rage. His body was shaking dangerously. Three years of torture and imprisonment hardening him to their worst fell away, leaving only desperation to keep his daughter safe. Pol, however, seemed very happy and released Jim, handing the ring to the man. “Fairy King, please help me,” he whispered, not breaking his sight from Charlie. She fell to the ground the second his words entered the air. Disregarding the sudden spark of electricity in the air, the strange summer wind, or the trembling of the ground beneath their feet, Jim ran to Charlie. “Charlie are you ok? Please, sweetheart.” Her eyes were open, but she didn’t say a word. She was staring behind him, eyes blown wide with wonder.

Four figures stood in the chamber, each in their own unique form of splendor. One was dressed in silver fabric with hair that matched it in sparkle and shine, a unicorn emblazoned on his chest. Another held a ghastly skeleton guitar in his hands, dark curls falling to his shoulders. The third wore a quilted harlequin and flowing ruffles at his wrists. Then the last, the most brilliant of them all, wore a strange costume covered in eyes and strings hanging off him with a giant plumage coming off his back. 

The Princes of the Universe.

The Fairy King.

His Freddie, as beautiful as the day he first saw him. Those beautiful dark eyes and those delicate locks of hair that curled ever so slightly at the nape of his neck. Jim’s breath caught in his throat. How many nights he dreamed of holding his beloved in his arms, or of simply seeing him, or hearing his beautiful laugh. Long, terrible nights of guilt and anger. How he wanted to curse and love Freddie, that beautiful bastard that had made him fall so hard. Not because of his station or wealth, but because of his kindness, his generosity, the sweetness in his voice. His heart felt as if it would burst.

Pol, however, was not as excited at their sudden entrance.

“What?!” He took a step back, suddenly outnumbered. His mind raced with vile intent to turn the tables as quickly as possible.

“You should have known we’d all answer the call, Pol,” John said, a frigid glare in his eyes. The dark fae’s teeth grated against each other in fury.

“No matter, I’ll simply take care of all of you at once.” He grabbed the gaping mortals and slammed them into the wall behind him. The blow knocked the air out of Charlie’s lungs and forced a groan from her already injured body. The looks of horror on the Prince’s faces only fueled Pol’s resolve. “I’m not totally cruel. I have no wish to dispatch these mortals of their feeble lives, if you give me what I ask. I propose a negotiation.” Roger’s hands balled themselves into fists, sparks of electricity fizzling off the ends of his hair. His eyes could cut steel.

“There will be no negotiation. Only your excruciatingly painful death, you pitiful slug.”

“Tsk-tsk, young prince. I think you should be more careful with your words,” Pol smiled. Turning his head, the dark magic pulsed. Charlie’s body convulsed, her muscles straining as her face tensed from the burning pain. “If not for me, then for your friends.” Even Jim winced at it, eyes shut tightly and jaw forced shut to keep from screaming. Freddie’s face went a deathly pale, anguish coursing through his veins like blood. 

“What are your terms.” Brian put a steady hand on Roger’s shoulder, urging caution in the precarious situation. It did little to temper his outrage but it did keep his mouth shut. Pol’s eyes sparkled and moved to the Fairy King.

“My terms are not wholly unreasonable. An exchange. His life for another.” He slowly approached Freddie, appearance seemingly pleasant. He softly ran his fingers down the fae’s jaw line, inhaling sharply. “Be mine forever, and I’ll let him go. Give into my magic and charms, and we may be happy as we once were.” The King said nothing, keeping Pol’s gaze. 

“And if I don’t?”

“Oh dearie me. Then I must have believed your true feelings to be stronger than they really were. They are just mortals after all. I would certainly understand if you would rather return to your Princes and your castles. I’ll just have to keep them here for company, since I’ll have none.”

“There are no words to describe how disgusting you are,” John growled. The ground trembled slightly at his words. Pol just smiled sweetly at the Prince. He turned to his target and pursed his lips. 

“Well, Freddie. What will it be.” He stuck his hand out. The fae stared at it a second before glancing away defeatedly.

“Freddie don’t,” Charlie lifted her head weakly to meet his gaze. He offered only a sad smile in return.

“I’m sorry, darling. Take care of your father.” 

They shook hands and the deal was sealed. With a smirk, Pol tossed Jim to the ground in front of the Princes and pressed his palm to Freddie’s forehead, the energy that had held Jim now entwining themselves his legs.

“Let her go now,” he hissed as the coils grabbed his wrists. 

“I never said she’d get to go, Freddie. How else will I keep your little friends at bay?”  Wrath encompassed Freddie’s entire being. Even Pol was put back at how fiery his temper had flared. Fire licked at the ground he stood on, burning the inky limbs into ashen smoke. The eyes on his clothes blinked and turned counterclockwise until they were purely vertical. With a deafening roar, Pol was pushed back with an explosion of heat and energy. 

Then the music started. Charlie collapsed to the ground, and despite her feeble state she forced herself to look up. Freddie was enshrined in flame, hair growing into a mane of black curls. Roger’s hands held two sticks and lightning leapt from where he stood, black clouds gathering around him. Brian’s guitar now held all the constellations and galaxies as it’s strings, nebulas interweaving through his hair. And John, John held his own guitar made of pure quartz crystal, shimmering in the light of Freddie’s fire. Hurricane force winds billowed through the room, stinging Charlie’s eyes but she dared not look away.

They were making music worthy of gods. It rang in her head as if she had always known it by heart. It hailed victory, survival, destiny. They stood so defiantly against Pol’s shadow creatures. It was incomprehensible what its affect on their enemy was. Then what resembled a guitar solo on all of the drugs blasted into Pol. His corporeal body chipped away like flaking paint until all the was left was a black amorphous creature. It rose and turned to the Princes and shrieked a piercing wail. It threw itself against the eye of the storm, bashing to try and break into the invisible barrier that held the Princes. It tore pillars from their moorings and screamed in animalistic rage. Roger produced a thunderous cacophony so powerful it forced the creature back, shrinking it back into the form of a man. His fine clothes were tattered, revealing deep gashes on his his person. 

“IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT, FREDDIE? THE LOVE OF FLEETING MORTALS?” He screamed above the sound. Pol turned wild eyed to Charlie and cackled. A dart like shard of onyx solidified in his hand. “Then relish in their deaths.” The music ended abruptly in Charlie’s head. She was more focused on the dark energy that had pierced her body. She looked at it in disbelief. It was melting into her skin, turning her blood vessels black as it spread through her body. Dull cold filled her with every heartbeat and that familiar feeling of her bones being too heavy to bare forced her to the ground. She was so tired. So tired.

Freddie was the first at her side. Pol had been reduced to a weak spirit, wandering as a lowly Sluagh and hungering for eternity, and banish to the caverns. But his last act had been the most terrible. The curse was taking its course like a foul poison. Soon she’d be gone.

“Oh darling. Oh darling please forgive me.” He wept bitterly as he held her. “I was so blind. I was so stupid and arrogant. I’m so sorry, Charlie.”

“Freddie,” she muttered, “I’m so tired...I’m cold…”

“Please hold on. Please fight it.”

“So tired,” she whispered as her eyes closed. The hand that had been clutching Freddie’s arm fell limp. 

“We have to help her...John do something!” Roger knelt beside the Fairy King and felt for her heart, for a weak breath, anything. Stinging tears rolled down his face. “Do something!”

“She’s gone, Roger,” he whispered, still holding Jim. His eyes were blank and lifeless as he stared at Charlie’s body.  “There’s nothing we can do. She’s gone.”


	9. Birth of the Pale Wyrm

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to bury their child. What could only be worse was their child dying because of their mistakes.

Jim was living his worst nightmare. He’d lost his baby girl once before, when he was taken by Sluagh three years ago. Now he lost her forever. Would her soul find peace? How could one so young even rest? All he saw was the bouncing ball of joy he knew when she was young. Full of life. Full of spirit. Even when she screamed she hated him, or that he’d never understand her, or that she wished she’d never been his daughter, his love for her was overflowing. When she skinned her knee, he’d put on a band aid and kiss it. When she was crying because of a crush he was there to hold her. When she wanted nothing more than to disappear he was always handy with a cup of tea and a song to make her feel safe again.

But he couldn’t fix this.

“Jim…” John put his hand on the grieving mortal’s shoulder. He had fallen next to her and refused to release his hold. “Jim we have to leave. We have to take her somewhere safe.” He nodded, flinching at the awful limpness when he picked her up. Her veins were tarred and an uneasy exhaustion manifested on her face, a terrified, defeated look hewn into her features forever.

* * *

They took her to the Fairy Kingdom, the Fallen Spire now laying in waste from the attack by Pol’s dark magic. Brian ensured that their courts and treasures were moved safely. This left the others to grieve. Many apologies were whispered, many tears were shed.

Roger’s grief was incalculable. He sat alone in his apartment, refusing to even look at Charlie’s lifeless body that now laid in the King’s chambers. A heavy emptiness curled inside his heart and made him its nest, rage almost forgotten. Almost. That steady beating in his head refused to fade, reminding him how he lived while Charlie lay in the mists of some distant world to which he would never follow. Gone, gone forever. How he cursed his being, his lot as a fae. He would have thrown it all away to be a farmhand in her little Irish village, to grow old with her until his golden locks turned snowy white and he was placed beside her to rest. His arms yearned to hold her again, keep her safe, make her happy. But no, she was gone, lost to him to a cruel and unyielding fate. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t  _ fair _ .

His hands entangled themselves in his hair as he bit hard onto his lip to keep from crying out. Shadows and madness began to creep at the edges of his mind. He couldn’t stop seeing her face or hearing her voice. She was calling out for him. She was in so much pain, so alone. A tight feeling congealed in his throat, hot and thick. Without thinking, his fist hit the wall with a thunderous clap. The residual energy reverberated through him, only heightening his wrath. Again he struck the wall, not noticing the milky white scales that were beginning to grow on his skin. His vision faded to a dull blur and he screamed a horrible, blood curdling call as his spine was wrenched out into a monstrous form. Hands turned to talons and his body wriggled in frustrated grief as it elongated into the form of a grasping wyrm. A thin mucous membrane covered his body, bile dripped from his fanged mouth. Another howl echoed through the halls of the Court.

John had rushed to his friend’s room as quickly as possible, but not quickly enough. Horror washed over him as he observed the slinking, slime-riddled wyrm as it scratched the walls and hissed in its venomed voice.

“ _ Gone gone, gone forever. Only pain. Only pain _ .”

“Roger!” The beast turned its blood red eyes to the Prince. No pupil dotted it, and yet the gaze was intently fixed onto him. It charged John, the fae only just managing to dodge from its path as it twisted and scrambled through the passageways. “Roger! Stop!” He desperately tried to impede the wyrm’s progress, but it simply slid through cracks in barricades, toppled over jutting crystal or marble walls and raced towards the throne room.

* * *

Freddie looked up, a strong hand resting on his love’s shoulder. The man was seated on the velvet stairs, head still cupped in his hands as melancholy drained him. Yells and a ferocious roar finally made him look up.

“Jim...Jim get up.”

“What is it? Is it Pol?!” Jim instinctively put himself between the approaching noise and Freddie.

“No…” The fae urged Jim back just in time as the wyrm broke through the doors, lecherous fluid dripping from rotten, yellowed teeth. It paid them no heed and twisted its long snake-like body towards the door, crashing through the glass with shattering force and taking off into the skies above the gardens. 

“Freddie! It’s Roger!” John braced himself on the broken banister. “He’s lost control.” The Fairy King looked quickly back at the broken glass. He needed to get Jim somewhere safe. Quickly, and he only knew one place.

* * *

Charlie’s body was guarded well, soft flowers laying softly around her as the cats kept bad spirits away. The magic they had placed on the room would be strong enough to shield Jim from whatever Roger had become should he choose to return.

But the thought of leaving his love in the room of his dead child, it was almost too much to bear.

“Jim...I’m so sorry…It was all my fault, darling. I’ve been such a fool. Blinded by anger...I should have sent her home...” Deep in his heart, Freddie had loved Charlie as his own kin. As his own daughter. Now, because of his selfishness she was taken from her real father forever.

“Yes, you have,” the man muttered, a sad smile appearing as he softly moved hair away from her closed eyes. “Oh, Fred. You should have just stayed away. Mortals and fae aren’t meant to be together.” When he didn’t respond, Jim turned to look at him. His dark eyes were dark and sorrowful, cast aside in shame.

“I’m so sorry, Jim. I’ll return you to your home. I’ll give you all my riches. All my powers just please...please don’t hate me. Blame me, curse me, but I still love you with every fibre in my miserable body.” He couldn’t look Jim in the eye and resigned himself, turning to stand and leave. He was stopped by Jim grabbing his hand. It was what Freddie had wanted to do for so many years, to simply hold this mortal’s hand as tightly as if he would lose him again.

“You drive me mad, make me angry, give me all the frustrations a man could imagine, Freddie. I’ve spent so many nights cursing, tossing and pulling my hair out thinking about how crazy you make me...but no where in there did I ever find hate. Not one ounce. Freddie,” he said quietly, a gentle palm pressed to the fae’s cheek, “I love you.” 

Freddie’s expression melted into the most sincere gratitude imaginable, love flooding his dark eyes as he embraced the love of his life. He pressed his lips to Jim’s, finding all the comforts of home and warmth in his arms. 

Something fizzled in the air that made them break apart. The cats’ fur was standing on end as they watched magic swirl invisibly around them. Sparkles littered the air and with a final snap, they disappeared.

And Charlie was different. 

The pale ashen complexion that had occupied her in death was gone, replaced by her ruddy and freckled body glowing with life. The poison left her body, the wound were the curse had pierced her returned to smooth, untampered flesh. And breath filled her lungs.

“Charlie? Oh god, Charlie?” Jim moved to her, feeling the warmth in her hand and the rising of her chest bring life to his body. 

There were a few tense moments where nothing happened. Where he stood holding his breath, praying for his beloved daughter to wake.

A low groan escaped her as she blinked slowly awake.

“P-papa?” Tears streamed down his face as he cradled Charlie in his arms, a laugh getting caught in his choked up throat.

“Oh my darling. Charlie Horse. Oh Charlie.” She offered a confused smile and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Where…” She stopped and made eye contact with Freddie, bursting with happiness and the desire to hold them both. “Freddie,” Charlie murmured, grin growing wide. The fae couldn’t control himself, and he threw himself onto them, clutching them both close. Holding his family close.

 


End file.
